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Lahcen Achy was a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. He is an economist with expertise in development, institutional economics, trade, and labor and a focus on the Middle East and North Africa.

From 2004 to 2009, he was a professor at Morocco’s National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics, where he taught development and international economics. In September 2008, he was a visiting professor at the Gambian University of Banjul. Prior to that, he was a research associate at the Free University of Brussels and a visiting professor in the international master’s program jointly organized by the Free University and the University of Namur.

Achy is a research fellow in the Economic Reform Forum and the Moroccan academic liaison for the Researchers’ Alliance for Development. In this capacity, he works to increase interaction between the academic development community and the World Bank. He has consulted for the World Bank, the UN Development Program, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Economic Commission for Africa.

There has been growing interest in the role that minimum wage plays in achieving social justice, through improving the living standards of low-income workers and reducing inequality in the distribution of income among various segments of society.

Italian Institute for International Political Studies
November 13, 2013

No noticeable progress has been made in dealing with the key economic factors that ignited the Arab uprisings. The cost of inaction may be huge if these countries fail in their transitions and slide into violence and extremism.

The Moroccan government is trying to reform the kingdom’s pension structure, but the absence of any concrete measures could prevent retirement funds from meeting their financial obligations in the coming years.

Although Algeria has the third-largest oil reserves in Africa, unattractive government policies have led to declining foreign investment and a 20 percent drop in hydrocarbon production over the last 5 years.

Arab economies are plagued by unemployment, informal unprotected work, and income disparities. Policymakers need to set the conditions to create productive and inclusive societies and lift the region out of poverty.

Although Arab states have made admirable progress in reducing the gap between men and women in areas such as access to education and health care, more female participation in the region’s political and economic life is still needed.

Morocco’s foreign trade deficit has been worsening in recent years, with imports at twice the level of exports. The country’s trade deficit now accounts for 23 percent of GDP, a level unprecedented in Morocco’s recent history.

Tremendous political, economic, and social changes need to occur in post-revolution Libya. Unlike in Tunisia or Egypt, political structures and state institutions will have to emerge from the ground up.

Only a few months after the demise of Ben Ali, Carnegie's Lahcen Achy and Tunisian economists organized a conference in Tunis to discuss challenges and perspectives for Tunisia to achieve its democratic transition and enhance socioeconomic development.

The latest uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have put socioeconomic issues at the forefront of the political debate, and achieving a more inclusive growth has become a key challenge for the region's governments.

The unemployment rate in the Arab region is one of the highest in the world and Arab governments need to institute political and socioeconomic reforms in order to counter the negative effects of youth unemployment in their countries.